


We Don't Even Have Birthdays!

by silveradept



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Catra is a jerk, F/F, One-Sided Catra/Scorpia (She-Ra), Scorpia Loves Her Anyway
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-16
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2020-12-17 10:06:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21052607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silveradept/pseuds/silveradept
Summary: Scorpia wants to surprise Catra with a party. Catra isn't surprised, but she appreciates it anyway.





	We Don't Even Have Birthdays!

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FriendlyCybird](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FriendlyCybird/gifts).

"Hey, Catra, serious question," Scorpia said, tapping her claws together nervously. "What would it take for you to give up everything you've worked for and run off into the sunset?"

"I dunno, maybe if Adora stopped being a princess," Catra said, putting her own claws in her pockets before realizing the implications of what Scorpia was saying. "What did you do?" she hissed.

"It wasn't me!" Scorpia wailed, a second or two before the explosions started. Entrapta and Emily came barreling through a nearby corridor, Entrapta cackling as she fled the scene.

Catra sighed and gently facepalmed. "Come on," she said, "we should probably see what happened."

"No," Scorpia said quickly, shaking her head. "No-n-n-no-no-no-no. If we're there, Lord Hordak will think it's our fault."

"I wouldn't worry about that," Catra said, grinning and bounding into the corridor. "Besides, I have to know what I'm looking at if I'm going to blame Kyle for it."

"Kyle wasn't anywhere near it," Scorpia said, looking confused.

"Exactly," Catra replied.

"What _is_ Kyle's role in your squadron, anyway?"

"To take the blame for anything that goes wrong, naturally."

"Oh!" Scorpia's face brightened with understanding, before settling into a thoughtful expression. "I suppose it is handy to have someone like that around. Still, it doesn't seem like the kind of thing a Force Captain should do."

Catra laughed. "What's he going to do, run off and join the Rebellion?" She laughed harder. "That's a great idea! We should get Kyle to defect and join the Rebellion! He'll do the best sabotage work for us by genuinely trying to help them!"

Scorpia made a note of it, just in case Catra was serious. Sometimes she'd say things like that, and then come back in two weeks and ask for a progress report. Keeping excellent notes was important to staying on top of Catra's proclamations. 

And for making sure everyone had enough supplies and was in the right place when Catra decided to go through with one of those half-spoken plans. Scorpia always hoped Catra would notice the logistical work she did to keep the Horde running and resupplied, but the closest she'd ever come was a "Huh. Good job." when Scorpia had anticipated the next place Catra wanted to strike and positioned a squadron there to keep Catra's momentum going.

"Shouldn't we be going in the other direction?" Scorpia asked. "After all, if Entrapta is running from it, it's more dangerous than we are, isn't it?"

"Nah," Catra waved off Scorpia's objection. "That was her delighted cackle, not her panic scream. Probably just a bit of First Ones tech that got out of hand."

"You have a pretty cavalier attitude toward your own safety," Scorpia frowned. "What would your loved ones think if you were killed in an industrial accident?"

Catra laughed again, much more harshly than before. "Nobody cares about me here, past whether I can actually do my job or not."

"That's not true!" Scorpia protested, as they entered Entrapta's darkened lab.

"Whatever," Catra snapped dismissively. "Look, you want to stay in the clouds or whatever it is that's inside your head, that's fine, but out here, if you want to say something like that, you need to prove it."

The lights blazed on. "Surprise!" chorused several voices.

Catra turned her head to Scorpia.

"Happy birthday, Catra," Scorpia said weakly.

Catra snapped her head back forward. "That's a pathetic excuse for a surprise," she said. "Rogelio! Your eyes reflect in the dark! You can't just stand there and think you're invisible. Lonnie! You can't scare Entrapta with anything less than a world-ending catastrophe, so it's not worth trying! Kyle! I could smell you from halfway down the corridor! What kind of soldier wears strong perfume?"

"I was doing research on Perfuma's blossoms before Lonnie told me I had to help out with this," Kyle explained. "I told her I needed to clean up first!"

"Is there cake? Is it time for cake?" Entrapta shouted, running into the lab. Emily followed at a more discrete distance, performing the closest thing to a curtsy a spider-bot could do as Emily passed Catra.

"Oh, no," Catra groaned. "Please tell me it's not ration bars."

"If it helps," Lonnie said, "they're Kyle's ration bars. He graciously volunteered them to help."

"You make it sound like I had a choice," Kyle grumbled. Lonnie punched him in the arm. 

Catra shook her head at the unappealing cake and the small set of balloons that had been placed around a banner.

"Are we hugging?" Catra asked, tilting her head at the banner.

"Yep!" Scorpia beamed with pride. "Hugging, holding hands, taking long walks through the Fright Zone, all the sorts of things that besties do."

Lonnie looked dubious, but Kyle and Rogelio nodded firmly.

"Okay, enough slacking," Catra said. "Get back to work! And take that excuse for a cake with you."

When everyone else had left, Catra turned to Scorpia.

"We don't even _have_ birthdays," she said.

"Well, no," Scorpia said, blushing and tapping her claws together. "But Shadow Weaver kept meticulous records about you, and I looked at the day she said you came to the Horde, and some other time clues in other places, and I asked Entrapta to help, and this seems like the most likely day you were born! So, uh…happy birthday."

"You went through all of that trouble for me?" Catra asked skeptically.

Scorpia nodded.

"Huh," Catra said, looking back at the banner. "Thanks."

Scorpia swept Catra up into a shell-cracking hug.

"Hey!" Catra protested immediately. "No hugging! Ten foot rule! Put me—you're not even listening, are you?"

"Nope. Told you I was a hugger. Your fault for not believing me."

Catra rolled her eyes and endured. When Scorpia let up for a bit, Catra wriggled her way out of her grasp and retreated to a safe distance.

"Hey," she said quietly. "Don't change, okay? I think it would be terrible—for you—if my heart got shredded again by betrayal."

"I'll be right here for you," Scorpia promised. Catra bounded off.

"Uh, Catra?" Scorpia said a little while later. "I may be been more literal in that last sentence than I intended. I seem to be stuck in one of Entrapta's blob experiments, and I can't move my feet to get out of it."

Silence followed her request.

Scorpia sighed.

"One Catra-loves-me, two Catra-hates-me," she began counting.


End file.
